quote:
I couldn't make sense of why they're pushing Next so hard until I took a look at the subsidy:
iPhone 6 (64G) cost: $750
If I buy it: $300, they subsidize $450
If I do Next: I pay $25 x 24 months = $600, they subsidize $150
I was convinced I was getting taken by going with Next seeing how they were pushing it so hard. I went with a contract and in the end I think I lost. The reason they're pushing it so hard is because it's cutting their subsidies by 1/3.
If they would just tell the customer up front that the Next is benefiting them AND the customer it would be a much easier sell.
You are not looking at it correctly. $25/month is paid for 30 months if you are on the Next 24 plan. If you choose Next 18, you pay for the phone over 24 months at $31.25/month. Next 12 is 20 months at $37.50/month. The standard for all Next plans is to make payments longer than the time they allow you to upgrade in. So when you come due for your upgrade you have not fully paid for the phone and your options are to give it to them so they basically resell it, or you pay off the balance and then you can do whatever you want with it, which includes likely selling it for more than they are giving you for the unpaid payments.
Are you on a mobile share plan or still on an old grandfathered rate plan with a data and text packaging added on? By switching away from my old rate plan, the mobile share plans would be quite a bit more expensive than my current plan, but part of the reason is I do not have a family texting plan. If I had that, then it might be about even, but we don't text enough (outside of iMessages) to justify needing that.